The then and the now

Surviving Cancer – It’s Up To You

Over the years since getting bowel cancer I have spoken to literally thousands of people, in groups and individually about dealing with cancer.

While the medical opinion is that a positive attitude plays no part in your recovery or otherwise, I beg to differ.

Case 1. After a talk I gave to a group a man in his early forties (let’s call him Ray) came to me and told me he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He started sobbing as he said he feared death and couldn’t bear the thought of leaving his young family to fend for themselves.

At this point his wife interjected saying the prognosis was excellent.

The cancer had been detected early and treatment would rid him of the cancer.

Despite knowing this himself Ray was inconsolable. His wife said he cried himself to sleep every night refusing to accept the doctor’s positive prognosis.

Ray had become a burden on his family causing fear and uncertainty for his young children. Nothing I said was going to change that.

Case 2 A woman in her late 60’s was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. Her immediate reaction was “I’m too busy to have cancer. I’ve got so many things still to do.”

Years later she’s going strong, as for Ray I have no idea, but with his mental attitude the future looked bleak.

What can you take out of these stories? Well, they’re anecdotal, no “evidence based” statistics.

But you tell me, wouldn’t Ray’s and his family’s lives been far better if he had a positive outlook. It might not have changed the outcome but the quality of his life would have been far better.

I had some wonderful philosophical discussions about healthcare and complementary medicine with my radiotherapist.

While we didn’t see eye to eye on a number of things one thing he said stuck with me when we were talking about types of cancer treatment.

“Your mind is the most powerful form of cancer treatment there is.”

He said. “whether you have surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, naturopathy, homeopathy, or a combination of them, believe you have made the right decision.”

“Believe that your cocktail of treatment will work for you, believe your course of treatment is the one that will rid your body of the cancer.”

The mind is powerful way beyond our comprehension. We can use our mind’s to overcome fear, overcome pain, do things we once though impossible. Surely cancer, any disease, is just another challenge for the brain.

Although the statistics are improving all the time people will still die of cancer despite the best treatment.

A positive state of mind mightn’t guarantee your survival but the time you have will be full of love and an abundance of joy. You owe it to yourself and those who mean most to you to give it a go.